WITH Mars the closest its been to Earth in almost 60,000 years, astronomers from Merseyside gathered last night to view the once in a lifetime chance.

The Liverpool Astronomical Society met at the Pex Hill Observatory in Cronton to get the best look they could of the Red Planet.

At 10.51am yesterday Mars was within 34.6m miles of the Earth - 145 times the distance to the moon.

But one o-clock this morning was the best time for the public to see it although if you wanted to see any detail then a telescope was needed.

The good news for the amateur astronomer is that Mars will still be very close for at least a week, meaning that you will still be able to see the planet well.

The weather will also be good over the next few days for stargazers with the Press Association Weather Centre saying that there will be no cloud tonight and only cloudy patches tomorrow.

Ken Clarke, secretary of the Liverpool Astronomical Society, said: "Unfortunately if you want to look at Mars you need a telescope to see any of the detail because binoculars will not do the job.

"This is nature's publicity campaign in action really.

"Mars comes close to the Earth every couple of years but because the orbits of the earth and Mars don't match up very often, this will be as close as Mars gets.

"There are no dust storms at the moment on Mars which could obscure our view so it gives us a great look."

The reason Mars is so close to the Earth this year has to do with the planets' orbits.

Earth and Mars are like two runners going round a racetrack at different speeds.

As it circles the Sun, Mars is on average about one and a half times further away than the Earth. It takes 687 days to complete one orbit, compared with the Earth's 365.

Roughly every 26 months, Earth overtakes Mars on the inside, causing a close encounter between the two planets as it passes. If the planets' orbits were circles, the distance between them would be the same every time this occurs. But their orbits are actually oval-shaped, and Mars in particular follows a very non-circular path.

As a result the distance between Earth and Mars at their closest approach can vary between 35 million and 63 million miles.

The weather in Mars also needs to be in the astronomer's favour as dust storms on the planet's surface can make it impossible to see the markings.